I’ve been wanting to stretch the limits in pottery for quite sometime now. Today I created my largest piece ever measuring 18” tall. As far as the limits go, I love to see just how much I can make that clay stretch before the wet clay collapses. I attached 3 nice size feet on the bottom and I hope it survives, if not, I’ll have to make another. I may have to make another tomorrow anyways just to have a backup plan as I want to have lots of creations ready.

I’ve been wanting to make a birdbath for quite sometime now. Maybe I just need to go for it and forget about my fears. What’s the worst that can happen?

Lauren & Her Friend

Lauren finally made it to the village and here are more words from her:

The village is beautiful. It lies in a valley surrounded by gorgeous mountains. There are palm trees and all kinds of beautiful plant life, and a beautiful river that runs through the center. Sometimes when it’s not raining in the afternoon I go swim in it. It is so far from the nearest town. Roughly 11 hours through the mountains by car to reach it. The houses are made mainly of wood, some leaf parts, some rock, and a few (like the school and the teachers’ house) have tin roofs. They are quite simple and without electricity. So everyone’s schedule goes mainly by the suns, which I like. There is however electricity at the school and at the teachers’ house. We have some pretty powerful solar panels that keep us going through the night. We have cold showers (thanks to the river.) and a small gas stove if we were to want to cook something. I really only ever cook breakfast (an egg, or some avena (oatmeal)) and sometimes on Sundays, because we are actually given a family to eat all of our meals with each week. It is a family of one of the students at the school. But since I like to run and work out a bit in the morning, I usually don’t go. The food is pretty basic. Every meal has tortillas made of corn, not flour. All of the indigenous women (it’s a village) are constantly making them. Some of them have tried to show me but it’s much more difficult than it looks. So anyway, tortillas and usually beans is all. Sometimes potatoes. Meat is rare, luckily for me. I’ve really grown to love the food, and prefer tortillas to bread. Usually drinks are coffee (actually more like hot sugar water with a little coffee for coloring) or a thick sweeter (sometimes) drink made of corn. The families are all nice; the women are more reserved, all tribal though so they still wear traditional clothing. Actually one family dressed me up like an ixil woman. It was quite hot and uncomfortable, but we all got a good laugh. There are also 24 different Mayan type languages, and those are primary for the families, not Spanish (which is taught as secondary in primary school.) Everyone is friendly, but of course they all stare. A gringo is a rare sight around these parts and only because they volunteer up at the school. In fact, they all gather when I run if it’s late in the day, because they have no idea why the heck I would be running back and forth for fun. It kind of puts that into perspective. Every day I wake up at 6. I run. Push ups sit-ups. Cold shower. And breakfast. I have to be at the school by 7:30 for the teachers’ devotional time. Class starts at 8. I teach 4 classes, 3 different levels. Ages range from 12-20 (one of my students is married, with a child). There are significantly less females than males. I teach all English, but it’s difficult because I’ve never taught before. And the books are awful. And there’s not even a teachers manual. And to speak a language and to be able to teach it are completely different. And I’ve not even taught before. But I’ve really grown to appreciate teachers, especially good ones. It’s such hard work. Because I want to be good. I want them to have fun and learn and be able to take it farther than the exam. But I also want their respect. That is completely vital. But the kids are amazing. They are so respectful and pure and lighthearted and actually want to learn. For them this is a privilege. I’ve fallen completely in love with them, and this place. They call me “seno” (short for senorita lorena.. my name down here.) we have a break at 1 and I have lunch with a family. I have to be back at school by 3 so I use that time to lay in the hammock and write or read or plan more lessons. Sometimes swim. At 3 I take care of some email stuff, plan more classes, study more, read more, and help out around school. I usually also play futbol or basketball with the boys (the girls never play.) sometimes I’ll play guitar for them, and since there’s no music in the village they love it. I played them an acoustic version of outkast’s “hey ya” and we had such a blast. Apparently one of them knew what “shake it” meant, and proceeded to do so. By 7 I leave school to walk to another family’s house for dinner. Everywhere is walking here. In rain boots because it rains many times each day. And I wear skirts all the time, its commonplace. I finally make it home by 8pm. I change, put on more bug spray, grade, read, study, write and drink tea. I live with 4 other female teachers. 2 from Guatemala, 1 from Holland, 1 from Germany. I’m really learning responsibility. I have to coexist with 4 other women so it’s not easy. We each have chores for the whole house. I wash my own dishes (by hand). I do my own laundry (by hand, which ends up being a 3 day process with lots of scrubbing.) I have to get my own butt out of bed in the morning, and if I want more time, I have to get up even earlier. No one is going to come in and wake me. Needless to say, sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes it sucks. Sometimes I do feel homesick. Or like the isolation is too much. But when I really get right down to it, I’ve never been happier. And every single day, I know myself a little better. And I feel more and more like I am finding out truly how I should measure success in life. Because there is something to be said about finding contentment in solitude. Something to be said about making your own happiness. Something to be said about simplicity. And I have realized how much I have to learn; from this work, this village, these kids, the world, myself, and life. And the amazing thing is that it doesn’t just stop. I will need to constantly evaluate and re-evaluate myself over and over to ever get anywhere. To ever grow. And that is a beautiful thing. And I feel so much more like I appreciate my life- the people I care about, the knowledge I have, the opportunities that are present. But there is still so much that I take for granted. And therein lies my journey ahead.

Sheesh, I’m trying to get into the fall enjoying all the colors when all of a sudden the gal setting up the Christmas displays at the mall wished me a Merry Christmas. For that matter, I even wished her a Merry Christmas.
I love this time of year when the decorations seem to sprout into Holliday Cheer. Our neighbors go all out on Halloween and I plan to take some pictures when their yard blossoms with orange lights and all sorts of things. We don’t explode over hear as much as they do but we sure enjoy the view from our home.
From Halloween & Thanksgiving to Christmas, New Years and Valentines, I just can’t seem to get enough of this season. Of course by the end of winter you will hear me sing spring’s praises no doubt.

The studio has kept me occupied much of the time this past week. I took a pic of the kinds of things I’m working on to give you a little peak of what’s going on over here in my little corner of the world. I’m also working on some large platters with handles and such.

I finished working on several pieces today and have just about wrapped things up in the studio for another day. I should be having a bisque load ready pretty soon and I’m trying to get another batch of things ready for another load next week. I’m working like mad trying to get enough things for my upcoming show in just three weeks.

Sometimes I really try to sleep in on purpose and those times are the weekends when Bobby’s off. As of late I’ve been so exhausted working in the studio that I’ve been going to bed on the early side between (9:30 – 10:30 pm). Last night I stayed up the usual 12:00 that we normally stay up and was wide eyed and bushy tailed at 6:30 am. I lay around in bed till 7:30 so wide awake that I just decided to get up. The sad thing is we are supposed to be sleeping in as this is Bobby’s Friday off, but instead I’m up with the birdies singing their tunes, having my coffee and enjoying a great pottery book. Maybe I can begin to stay up a little later and find my happy medium through the week.

It’s a little on the chilly side this morning with a COOL temperature of 52 degrees. These are the type of mornings where my bare feet and arms notice a difference when I walk outside to bid farewell to Bobby each day. When it gets really cold I opt to stay inside and watch him from the window.

It’s going to be another full day in the studio and things are beginning to take shape. Bobby assembled the slab roller last Thursday evening and it works like a charm. I’ll be using it again today to roll out my precious slabs. I’ve been doing a combination lately between slabs and wheel thrown work. The thrown pieces are sporting a little more character as things seem to evolve these days. I wonder what will evolve today.

I was all snuggled up in bed at 9:30 last night, tired with aching feet and legs from the constant walking and being on my feet for two days straight. The wonderful rest and sleep was in order for this worn out shopper girl.

I feel like a million bucks today, ready and raring to get into the studio. I’m trying out some new things this week and can’t wait to see how it goes. I’m getting geared up for my sale next month. The sale is held at a recreation area with nice picnic tables. There are many many covered areas which make for great display. I know many or most of the potters out there and it’s a great comradery over there. 30 + potters gather with their goods for a two day sale. This makes the 5th anniversary for this event and will be my first year to participate in the show. I’m getting excited about this and look forward to the days ahead.

Interior shot of a small portion of the Dallas Market

As mentioned Earlier, Bobby and I went on a shopping excursion today. It was not an ordinary shopping experience rather a huge eye opening experience into the world of wholesale. An experience only for the retailer owning a store front to enter. My parents added Bobby and me as associates to their business and were granted rights to this awesome market. Waterford, Lenox & Fitz & Floyd, are just 3 examples of the more than 2000 customized showrooms that feature everything from gourmet food to furniture.

I learned today that the Dallas Market is the largest wholesale resource Market in the World, with a total of nearly 7 million square feet and to bring that to perspective for you, it’s three times the size of the Empire State Building. I’m still amazed at what all we experienced as this was a first for both of us. I never knew playing this hard was so much work. Our bodies are completely exhausted but we are still on a high. We look forward to many more shows in the future. It will be a bright and early morning tomorrow as it’s the last day for the show. Our feet will definitely be dragging by the end of the day but our experience will be well worth it.

Goodnight all, and I hope to be back here posting Monday.

This is our coolest morning so far. We had a low of 58 last night and it’s currently 63, my morning coffee even tastes better and hopefully this weather’s here to stay. Bobby and I both commented how nice and cool it’s getting especially after temps in the 100’s this summer. Fortunately we don’t get much humidity and that makes a HUGE difference. I can say I’m thankful for dry heat because for me anyway, I can endure it, if that makes any sense.

Bobby and I have been shopping and shopping it seems and I plan to do a little more shopping today. We’ve been conducting an all out search for furniture in the family room for quite some time now. We know exactly what we’re looking for, now if we can just find it.

The slab roller came the other day and Bobby will be getting that assembled perhaps next weekend.

We’ll be gone to Dallas for more shopping all weekend; I’ll tell you more about it as I’ve never been to the World Market in Dallas before and hardly know what to expect, one thing I do know, we are in for a lot of fun.

Lauren finally made it to the villlage and here are more words from her:

The village is beautiful. It lies in a valley surrounded by gorgeous mountains. There are palm trees and all kinds of beautiful plant life, and a beautiful river that runs through the center. Sometimes when it’s not raining in the afternoon I go swim in it. It is so far from the nearest town. Roughly 11 hours through the mountains by car to reach it. The houses are made mainly of wood, some leaf parts, some rock, and a few (like the school and the teachers house) have tin roofs. They are quite simple and without electricity. So everyone’s schedule goes mainly by the suns, which I like. There is however electricity at the school and at the teachers’ house. We have some pretty powerful solar panels that keep us going through the night. We have cold showers (thanks to the river.) and a small gas stove if we were to want to cook something. I really only ever cook breakfast (an egg, or some avena (oatmeal)) and sometimes on Sundays, because we are actually given a family to eat all of our meals with each week. It is a family of one of the students at the school. But since I like to run and work out a bit in the morning, I usually don’t go. The food is pretty basic. Every meal has tortillas made of corn, not flour. All of the indigenous women (it’s a village) are constantly making them. Some of them have tried to show me but it’s much more difficult than it looks. So anyway, tortillas and usually beans is all. Sometimes potatoes. Meat is rare, luckily for me. I’ve really grown to love the food, and prefer tortillas to bread. Usually drinks are coffee (actually more like hot sugar water with a little coffee for coloring) or a thick sweeter (sometimes) drink made of corn. The families are all nice, the women are more reserved, all tribal though so they still wear traditional clothing. Actually one family dressed me up like an ixil woman. It was quite hot and uncomfortable, but we all got a good laugh. There are also 24 different Mayan type languages, and those are primary for the families, not Spanish (which is taught as secondary in primary school.) Everyone is friendly, but of course they all stare. A gringo is a rare sight around these parts and only because they volunteer up at the school. In fact, they all gather when I run if it’s late in the day, because they have no idea why the heck I would be running back and forth for fun. It kind of puts that into perspective. Every day I wake up at 6. I run. Push ups sit-ups. Cold shower. And breakfast. I have to be at the school by 7:30 for the teachers’ devotional time. Class starts at 8. I teach 4 classes, 3 different levels. Ages range from 12-20 (one of my students is married, with a child). There are significantly less females than males. I teach all English, but it’s difficult because I’ve never taught before. And the books are awful. And there’s not even a teachers manual. And to speak a language and to be able to teach it are completely different. And I’ve not even taught before. But I’ve really grown to appreciate teachers, especially good ones. It’s such hard work. Because I want to be good. I want them to have fun and learn and be able to take it farther than the exam. But I also want their respect. That is completely vital. But the kids are amazing. They are so respectful and pure and lighthearted and actually want to learn. For them this is a privilege. I’ve fallen completely in love with them, and this place. They call me “seno” (short for senorita lorena.. my name down here.) we have a break at 1 and I have lunch with a family. I have to be back at school by 3 so I use that time to lay in the hammock and write or read or plan more lessons. Sometimes swim. At 3 I take care of some email stuff, plan more classes, study more, read more, and help out around school. I usually also play futbol or basketball with the boys (the girls never play.) sometimes I’ll play guitar for them, and since there’s no music in the village they love it. I played them an acoustic version of outkast’s “hey ya” and we had such a blast. Apparently one of them knew what “shake it” meant, and proceeded to do so. By 7 I leave school to walk to another family’s house for dinner. Everywhere is walking here. In rain boots because it rains many times each day. And I wear skirts all the time, its commonplace. I finally make it home by 8pm. I change, put on more bug spray, grade, read, study, write and drink tea. I live with 4 other female teachers. 2 from Guatemala, 1 from Holland, 1 from Germany. I’m really learning responsibility. I have to coexist with 4 other women so it’s not easy. We each have chores for the whole house. I wash my own dishes (by hand). I do my own laundry (by hand, which ends up being a 3 day process with lots of scrubbing.) I have to get my own butt out of bed in the morning, and if I want more time, I have to get up even earlier. No one is going to come in and wake me. Needless to say, sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes it sucks. Sometimes I do feel homesick. Or like the isolation is too much. But when I really get right down to it, I’ve never been happier. And every single day, I know myself a little better. And I feel more and more like I am finding out truly how I should measure success in life. Because there is something to be said about finding contentment in solitude. Something to be said about making your own happiness. Something to be said about simplicity. And I have realized how much I have to learn; from this work, this village, these kids, the world, myself, and life. And the amazing thing is that it doesn’t just stop. I will need to constantly evaluate and re-evaluate myself over and over to ever get anywhere. To ever grow. And that is a beautiful thing. And I feel so much more like I appreciate my life- the people I care about, the knowledge I have, the opportunities that are present. But there is still so much that I take for granted. And therein lies my journey ahead.

Oh no! It’s the World Trade Center! Came a Yell from Bobby in the other room.

Mom and I scurried to the living room as fast as we could where we began to watch the news in horror and complete shock.

Our hearts were filled with grief and our heads told us that it had to be a mistake. That morning I held on to Bobby a little tighter when we bid farewell.

Mom and I were left alone to watch the news of what transpired during the night. We were in South Korea with a 12 hour time difference so it happened late evening Korea time. We weren’t watching the news the night before so we completely missed everything till we woke the next morning which would have been September 11 around 6:00 pm EST back in the States. Mom arrived to Korea approximately 1 week before that horrible incident. Our hearts went out to her being so far away from dad and home but she was contented to be there with us. She was with us for a total of 3 weeks and for me it helped to ease the pain having mom there with us.

Mom and I mourned it seemed all morning when we finally turned off the news and walked to a nearby coffee shop. We sat there just the two of us with long faces all alone and so far away from home. The Koreans felt our pain it seemed as complete strangers offered their condolences.

It was fitting that the following Sunday we would mourn with the nation in the World’s largest Church which is in Seoul South Korea. We had made our plans for Seoul long before Sept 11th to spend our weekend there and mom requested that place of worship weeks before she came to Korea. The service was interpreted in English where we had head sets so there were no language barriers whatsoever. It was a beautiful service where our hearts were touched and even though we weren’t home we felt loved half way around the world.

The following is a snippet from wikipedia.com

Yoido Full Gospel Church is a Pentecostal Christian church on Yeouido Island in Seoul, South Korea. Numbering over 800,000 members in 2006, it is the largest known congregation of Christian adherents in the world. Founded and led by Mr David Yonggi Cho since 1958, it is one of the most internationally visible manifestations of Korean Christianity.

We learned that flags were hard to come by and wanted to give mom & dad our flag to hang in their store. We purchased a beautiful 4’ X 6’ flag months before at the Arizona Memorial in Hawaii. It was a special flag that hung for a day at the Memorial and came with a certificate that was signed and dated and also gave the date that it proudly waved over the memorial. Tears streamed down moms face when we presented her with the flag. They proudly hung ‘The Red White & Blue’ in the center of the store from their 20 foot ceiling and in some way we felt blessed to proudly wave ‘Old Glory’.

Sometimes I find myself thinking (dreaming) about the future and where that next destination will be. Texas is home for now but will not be home forever. I dream of far away places and where we could possibly go next. If Bobby were to ask honey, how would you like to go to _ _ _, (of course he would never suggest we go to a place that’s unsafe) you better believe I could have my bags packed tomorrow. We plan to stay here till the kids are all graduated from college but after that we dream of far away places. Bobby tells me every now and then about prospect jobs overseas and to be honest it sounds so exciting. He just recently told me about another possibility in a few years of moving to Italy and we’ve talked about Germany and Australia or even going back to Asia. I’m ready to go and see more of the world, live in many cultures and experience life in other places. To me there’s nothing like submerging into another culture, it’s a great experience and at times I tend to get a little stir crazy. Life is a great experience and the more I live the more I realize that our time here on earth is short. I want to be all that I can be, do all that I can do and experience as much as I can possibly experience here on earth. We also talk of moving back to Florida one day. I must say I love the uncertainty of where we will be in the years to come, I love the adventure and then again we may stay right here in good ole Texas till retirement and then move on over to Florida. We may never experience overseas living again but it sure is fun to dream about. So while I’m here in Texas, I plan to enjoy each and every day, each and every season, and each and every experience because our time here will not last forever.

It’s that time of the year when the weather changes to beautiful crisp cool mornings and the temperatures during the day average 10 – 20 degrees cooler than the summer heat. I know the official first day of autumn is September 22nd but I’m declaring this Debbie’s first day of autumn. Having shopped at Wal-Mart a couple days ago enticed me to pick up a bag of pumpkin spice potpourri for one of my pottery bowls. It feels like autumn and my kitchen smells like pumpkin spice so why not let it be autumn. Amen.

Bobby and I were minding our business enjoying our day shopping again. On our way home this afternoon we experienced a lot of traffic with a helicopter circling above with lots of news media and police in front of South Hills High School in Fort Worth. Bobby thought instantly that it had to be a shooting with all the commotion going on and below is the proof of what happened. Wish I had my camera at the ready to show you guys the commotion we witnessed but it was crazy let me tell ya. I wish everyone could get along, I wish for peace but in the world we live in unfortunately there will always be crazies out there.

Teen shot by police officer at South Hills High

By DEANNA BOYD AND ALEX BRANCH

Star-Telegram Staff Writers

FORT WORTH — A 15-year-old student was shot in the chest — possibly by a Fort Worth police officer — during a fight at South Hills High School Friday afternoon. The boy, whose age was previously reported as 16, was transported to John Peter Smith Hospital. His condition was not available.

About 1:30 p.m. Friday, a Fort Worth police officer and a school monitor were told that some teenage boys were gathering behind South Hills High School. They confronted the teens, believed to be gang members, when they were attacked, according to Fort Worth police spokesman Lt. Gene Jones.

Jones said that during an intense struggle, the officer fired his weapon.

Fort Worth school district spokeswoman Sharon Parker told the Star-Telegram that the officer had shot the student. But Jones said it was unclear who shot the boy and would not say if any other weapons were involved.

The officer was taken to Harris Methodist Fort Worth hospital to be treated for minor injuries. Parker said that “at no time were the students in jeopardy.”

The school was locked down after the shooting, but students had been released by 4 p.m.

According to a mother of a student at South Hills, a fight involving an undetermined number of students broke out in front of the school.

Sylvia Castillo, whose son Michael is a 15-year-old student at South Hills, said she was told by her son that Fort Worth police arrived at the scene and that a student had been shot.

The students were moved inside and the school was locked down, but another fight broke out, Castillo said.

“Michael said they were throwing books, whatever they could get their hands on,” Castillo said. “There were a lot of kids fighting.”

He told her that the fight was broken up, and that the students were ushered into classrooms and told to stay there.

“He’s upset, but he’s apparently safe,” she said.

South Hills High School, located in south Fort Worth off McCart Avenue, has about 1,400 students.

Lucero Garcia, a 16-year-old junior at South Hills, said she didn’t see or hear any of the shooting, but that there was a large fight outside the lunchroom.

She said that teachers and police were trying to get students to back away when a second fight broke out. Garcia said she saw students with bloody faces and black eyes.

In December 2005, security was tightened at South Hills after students were involved in a fight at a park behind the school. One of the students was brandishing a pellet gun.

A Company Pic Of My New Slab Roller

Remember back in the day that I was talking about rolling out slabs with my rolling pin? Well that’s about to change very soon. Bobby asked me a while ago to do some research on slab rollers and wanted me to figure out which one I wanted. I did my research letting him know the details of the one I wanted and he purchased that slab roller yesterday, thank you so much darlin’. It should arrive in 7 business days and what a treat that will be. The slab roller will produce slabs up to 4 foot long and I can hardly wait! All I have to do on my end is turn that wheel which is a piece of cake and let the machine do all the work. I can adjust the appropriate thickness of the slab and it will do just that. The studio out at the Lockheed Rec Center has the same one I’m getting and I love it, so I kinda already know what I’m getting, a great machine!

Rolling slabs out the manual way entailed so much effort. First things first, It’s always necessary to have a slab with even thickness. In order to do that the old fashioned way, which many potters do, you need to have two long slats the same thickness (I like slabs ¼ inch thick, thus the thickness of my slats) placed on both sides of the clay body. When the pin starts to reach the level of the slats you know your slab is just about the right thickness. I continue to roll the pin till it glides over the slats and the slab is finally to the appropriate thickness. Once I get to that point manually, I feel I’ve done a days work and need a rest. Well almost, but in all seriousness, my new machine will produce slabs so fast and take all the effort out of it for me.

Today I will busy myself in my studio cleaning out bookshelves and preparing to move those out in order to make room for my new roller that I will welcome with open arms.